Almost Lover
by a Fox and a Fawn
Summary: The tale of Jareth and Sarah's first meeting since her journey, and the lifelong affair they engage in after. Set to the song 'Almost Lover' by A Fine Frenzy.


**Almost Lover, **A Labyrinth FanFic.

**Summary:** A songfic based off of 'Almost Lover,' it chronicles the lifelong affair Sarah and Jareth after her journey.

**Disclaimer: **The song used in this fic is 'Almost Lover' by A Fine Frenzy and does not belong to me. Neither does anything involving Labyrinth.

**Author's Note: **I am warning you now, this thing is incredibly mushy and romanticized. But as I sat listening to this tune today, I couldn't help but think _WOW! This song really fits them perfectly, _and I had to write it no matter how badly it turned out. Please read, review, and enjoy. =]

* * *

_Your fingertips across my skin  
The palm trees swaying in the wind  
Images  
You sang me Spanish lullabies  
The sweetest sadness in your eyes  
Clever trick_

It had been twenty-five years since the night that had changed Sarah Williams's world forever. Back then, at the age of fifteen, she was fit to be a heartbreaker. Nobody could deny her beauty, although she attempted to hide it with baggy and ill-fitting clothes. Her stepmother would chide her, knowing full well that if it weren't for Sarah's obsession with the fantastic and mythological, she would be out with a boy or a group of girlfriends every night she would normally spend babysitting.

In fact, Sarah herself had been coming to that realization and her days of acting out plays in the park were dwindling down fast. But that night, with the rain coming down in a torrential downpour and thunder claps that shook her house, Toby would not stop crying. Sarah bobbed him up and down wildly, begging the baby to quiet down and go to sleep, but he wouldn't listen. Using the same play she had practiced in the park that day, she told Toby the story of the Goblin King and his love for 'the girl.' And, thinking nothing could come of it, she spoke the words that had set her life on a different path.

_Well, I never want to see you unhappy  
I thought you'd want the same for me_  
_Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
Should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do_

At fifteen years old she was thrust into a world she had believed to be non-existent. Everything she said, every last word she spoke, seemed to come true. Her confused mind thought it was all a dream and that her thoughts and words brought the story to life. It was six years after, on her twenty-first birthday, that she realized that was not so. The tale had been written centuries before her and chronicled a true story—her true story. The king **had** fallen in love with her, the girl, and **had** given her special powers.

It was six years after, on her twenty-first birthday, that she had seen the Goblin King for a second time. The moon shone into her room, casting a steel blue light on everything it touched. A soft rain was pattering against the roof, and Sarah lay awake in her bed. She heard a sound, almost like a bubble popping, and sat up in her bed to see what it was. There, in all of his majestic glory, stood the Goblin King. The man who had haunted her dreams, and then made her dreams more magical than she thought possible, was now standing in front of her in the same outfit he had appeared in upon their first meeting.

"Jareth," she managed to whisper out. He stayed silent, simply holding out his hand to her. He did not smile and his eyes were emotionless, but as she stood from her bed and grasped his hand in hers, his stone-like appearance softened.

_We walked along a crowded street  
You took my hand and danced with me  
Images  
And when you left, you kissed my lips  
You told me you would never, never forget  
These images _

As their skin touched, she found herself being transported to a ballroom. Without so much as a glance, she was aware that this was the same ballroom in which she had fallen in love with the Goblin King. It was empty and silent this time. No music played in the background and no laughter charged into her ears. Candles placed in the dangling chandeliers emitted the only light in the room. She looked down at herself—a black dress hung from her body, a soft silk that clung to her curves. No shoes were on her feet. The man, still gripping her hand tightly, wore all black as well.

Jareth encased her other hand, bringing it around him to rest on his back. His hand slid around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He began speaking a melody of words that she recognized immediately. It was his song for her, the one that she had danced with him to those six years ago. The music, she realized, did him a disservice, as his voice itself was the most enchanting thing that her ears had had the pleasure of hearing. They danced around the space together. It was not a waltz or a tango or any other specific dance. It was just Jareth and Sarah, moving in whatever way they felt to move, floating across the ballroom floor as one.

The music eventually stopped. Sarah's arms wrapped around him as her head fell to his chest in soft sobs. His arms placed themselves around her, his cheek pressing against the top of her head. He kissed her forehead and brought a hand underneath her chin, pushing her face towards him. His lips softly touched hers as he whispered her name, then crashed onto hers with a passion she had never felt before.

A light from an unknown source began to filter into the ballroom. Jareth slowly backed away, taking her two hands in his and placing light kisses across her fingers. "Sarah, my love…," he whispered once more, forming a crystal sphere and placing it in her hands. It was similar to a snow globe, but with a much more realistic display inside of it. She and Jareth sat on a beach in this globe, eternally together for as long at the glass stayed whole. But by the time she looked up from the scene, the ballroom and Jareth were gone.

_Well, I'd never want to see you unhappy  
I thought you'd want the same for me  
Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
Should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do_

After that first tryst were hundreds of others like it. Sometimes they would dance, other times they would go to that special spot Jareth had created. Occasionally he would come Aboveground for a night, spending it with her wrapped in his arms and, rarely, out doing mortal events such as carnivals and picnics. And while Sarah spent every night without him alone, Jareth spent his nights in the Underground with random women in his bed. Whether it was for appearance (he was a known ladies man, after all), loneliness (as his heart ached for Sarah nearly every moment of the day), or to make others happy (because most of his superiors were irate with the young mortal girl who had been so arrogant to turn down a _king_), he was unsure of himself.

There were days Sarah begged Jareth to take her _home_ with him, because as the years passed she realized the Underground and the Labyrinth were more her home than the world she lived in. They both knew it wasn't possible. A quick trip was one thing, but an entire lifetime in another world could affect her in ways that Jareth wasn't willing to permit. So they continued their secret affair along with their separate lives, miserable that they could not have the life together that they longed for.

_I cannot go to the ocean  
I cannot drive the streets at night  
I cannot wake up in the morning  
Without you on my mind  
So you're gone and I'm haunted  
And I bet you are just fine_

_Did I make it that  
Easy to walk right in and out  
Of my life?_

Eighteen years. It had been eighteen years since the budding heartbreaker had given her heart to an immortal King and eighteen years since she had even thought about another man romantically. He would come to her world for one, maybe two, amazing nights, only to disappear for weeks with no contact. She knew he had matters to tend to in the Labyrinth, but it was as she had said on her journey all that time ago, it just wasn't fair. Sometimes she would get lonely and cry out for the goblins to come and take her away, for Jareth to come and take her way, but she knew it could not happen. She mentally punished herself for saying those final words to him, as those were the words that kept him from being with her now.

Now Sarah was pushing forty. A few gray hairs were sprouting, making their way through her chestnut locks and becoming more and more visible. There were soft but noticeable lines beside each of her eyes. Every morning as she looked in the mirror she would notice more of these signs, symptoms, **curses,** making their way onto her face. She would feel angry, depressed, guilty. With each day she was getting older, and she knew that meant one less day she could spend with Jareth. As her skin sagged and wrinkled, his stayed the same. It was like stone, never changing. During some visits she would only cry in his arms, apologizing for the fact that she could not live forever.

_Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
Should have known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do_

Sarah Williams was eighty-seven when she died. Her room was not filled with family as she took her last breath—not the mortal kind, at least. Ludo's growls filled the air. Sir Didymus removed his hat and held it to his chest, bowing his head. A single tear fell onto Hoggle's cheek. Jareth sat at her side, clutching onto her hand with his face invisible, blocked by his blonde mane. "Leave us," he told the group.

As the room emptied, Jareth let his hands release Sarah's. Moving his hand oh-so gracefully he summoned a crystal. It was a crystal, nothing more. It held no image and no dreams, but a spell. He ran the smoothness of the crystal down his beloved's arms, chest, legs, and beautiful face before disappearing from the room and reappearing at his window that overlooked the entirety of the Labyrinth. A soft smile formed on his face as he kissed the crystal he held and then blew into the air. He watched as it flew over his Labyrinth to the grand doors that marked its entrance before popping.

"You will find your way, my dear Sarah," he whispered, chuckling at the sight of his Sarah, fifteen again, dancing her way through his maze. His power over her no longer mattered, because her spirit knew where it belonged.


End file.
